Obesity and Overweight: Causes, Risks and Treatments

WHAT IS OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY?

The overweight and obesity of the adult are due to excess body fat. This one corresponds to the whole of the fat of the body (or adipose tissue). It is contrasted with lean mass, which corresponds to the weight of muscles, organs and viscera.

THE CAUSES OF OVERWEIGHT

Being overweight promotes the onset of conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, lipid metabolism disorders or musculoskeletal diseases. People who lose weight and find the healthy weight they feel physically and mentally in a  normal weight range improve both their well-being and their health.

If the overweight depends on different individual factors, it is always due to a positive energy balance: that is to say a supply of energy by the diet greater than the amount necessary for the proper functioning of the body and for physical activity.

If the overweight depends on different individual factors, it is always due to a positive energy balance: that is to say a supply of energy by the diet greater than the amount necessary for the proper functioning of the body and for physical activity.

POSSIBLE CAUSES OF OVERWEIGHT:

• Excessive consumption of high-calorie foods (high-fat meals, fast food, ready-to-eat meals, sugary drinks, etc.). Meals must be good, fast and economical.

• Nibbling between meals

• Permanent availability of food

• Lack of time, p. ex. no lunch break to make a real meal

• Advertising for agri-food products

• Absence of physical efforts become useless

• Social environment with habits, traditions and tendencies

• Personal dispositions, such as worries, stress, boredom ... that in fl uence the eating behavior

• Diseases and medications (eg, hypothyroidism, prolonged corticosteroids, antidepressants)

Although the human body has an innate predisposition to build up reserves, genes are not the only ones responsible for weight gain or overweight, but rather individual behavior in terms of diet and physical activity as well as the ability to cope with psychic tensions.

HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT

The evaluation of one's own body image is often in fl uenced by the beauty canons enacted by the media and the beauty industry. Instead of being dictated by a beauty ideal or imposing a model, it is far more important to find one's weight of comfort and personal well-being within a normal weight range.

The "ideal weight", which would consist of determining the ideal target weight of each according to its size, does not exist. Moreover, weight alone does not say if a person is underweight, normal or excessive. A healthy body weight is within a range that is calculated using the Body Mass Index (BMI), a size that can be used to estimate a person's body size. You can check if you are within your normal weight limits when calculating your BMI.

CONTROL YOUR WEIGHT BY REGULARLY WEIGHING

You can use your scale to control your weight  knowing that the result varies with the amount of water stored in  the body. The weight indicated on the scale can also be misleading in case  of increase of the muscular mass consecutive to a sustained sporting activity  (the muscular mass is heavier than the fat). To motivate oneself during weight loss, one must avoid fixing  one's weight and drawing hasty conclusions. Instead, focus on the  positive changes you are physically aware of and your  well-being.